1. Organizing for Victory
Financing the War
Revenue Act of increased number of Americans paying taxes
In addition to taxes, the government borrowed $ to pay for the war
War Productions Board:
Encouraged businesses to begin military production (GM and Ford)
Henry Kaiser - contractor, applied Ford’s mass production techniques to ship construction
Mobilizing the American Fighting Force
15 million Americans joined the armed forces
African Americans remained segregated
Native Americans played an instrumental role - “code talkers”
Women predominantly did clerical, communications, and health care work

2. Organizing for Victory
Workers and the War Effort
Rosie the Riveter:
Women were encouraged to help in the war effort
Often paid less than men
Post-WWII women were encouraged to go back to the home
Wartime Civil Rights:
Double V campaign:
Victory abroad against Fascism, Victory at home over racism
A. Philip Randolph: Sleeping car porters
Planned a march on Washington,
led to Executive Order 8802: Forbid discrimination in defense industries based on race
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) - created in 1942, would become influential in the 1960s
Organized Labor:
National War Labor Board - established pay, hours, and working conditions
Smith-Connally Act - prohibited strikes in defense industries

3. Organizing for Victory
Politics in Wartime
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (G.I. Bill)
Provided education, loans, mortgages, etc. for returning soldiers
Enabled poorer servicemen to be able to elevate their status after the war – used the money to help increase the middle class in the 1950s – led to a post war economic boom
Allow Congress to award the soldiers with realistic benefits that they could use immediately and helped to avoid any threat of a repeat of the Bonus Army of 1932.

4. Life on the Home Front “For the Duration”
Americans helped out by recycling, building “victory gardens,” rationing, etc.
Shortage of consumer goods encouraged savings
Migration and the Wartime City
15 million Americans moved during the war
Took jobs in factories
California benefitted more than any other state
Racial Conflict:
Zoot Suit - popular clothing worn by Mexican American teenagers
Zoot Suit Riot - Conflict in Southern California between servicemen and Mexican Americans
Gay and Lesbian Communities:
Strong gay communities emerged in large cities (significant in the 1960s and 70s)

5. Life on the Home Front Japanese Removal Executive Order 9066:
Forced removal of Japanese Americans on west coast to relocation camps during the war
2/3 of those affected were Nisei - American born Japanese citizens
Upheld via Korematsu v. US (1944)